GATES HAS A HANDLE ON BALL SECURITY

Fumble vs. Eagles rare event in career

After more than a decade, 148 regular-season starts, eight postseason games, 8,494 yards in receptions and 83 touchdowns, not to mention the All-Pro distinctions, near-perennial Pro Bowl status and the balletic, one-handed catches, Antonio Gates had pretty much run out of ways to really surprise anybody on a football field.

He found one the other day, though. Gates actually fumbled. The ball hit the ground. So did jaws.

“I hadn’t had one in four, five years,” said Gates. “I never even paid too much attention because I’ve always prided myself so much on ball security. But on that play, I let technique slip out the window. I’m going to learn from that.”

Although never really one for excessive celebration or exasperation, Gates was noticeably subdued in the aftermath of the Chargers’ stunning triumph at Philadelphia last Sunday. The Chargers’ game-winning drive began with Gates’ seventh and eighth grabs of the day for a total of 36 yards, putting the Chargers in Eagles territory, but the tight end clearly couldn’t let go of how he’d let go of the ball just 2 yards shy of a first-quarter TD. Like he’d seen a mirage starring him.

“It’s weird,” Gates said. “There’s a saying that, it doesn’t get you until it gets you.”

Another saying is that “man-bites-dog” makes much more news than “dog-bites-man,” and indeed, that’s about how often Gates commits a fumble.

He hadn’t turned the ball over since the opening game of 2008. Two, zero, zero, eight. Before then, his only NFL fumble had come during the second game of his rookie season, 2003.

Consider: Gates has handled the football 691 times, all on pass receptions, and fumbled a total of just four times. And one was recovered by the Chargers.

“It just doesn’t happen with him,” said quarterback Philip Rivers. “When the ball’s in his hands, it’s safe there. He just has this unique ability to know where (defensive) guys are around him, so he knows when to relax and when somebody’s close.

“The other day he was so close to the score, it was like, ‘I’m in!’ He just got caught (stripped) from behind.”

To be sure, when the game was over and Gates’ ridiculously rare fumble was ultimately rendered moot, Gates had done far more damage to the Eagles than he had his own team. If anything, too, he gave some strong early indications of improving in the 11th year of a career that already could be Canton-worthy.

For one thing, Gates is healthier as well as leaner, perhaps not a coincidence. Even in such a small sample size, it’s evident that the regime change has not diminished his role in the offense.

To the contrary. Add the two catches for 49 yards in the opener and Gates is ahead of his own pace with an average of 17.3 yards per reception.

“I love great players,” said head coach Mike McCoy, asked if there’s anything specific about Gates that works well with his own brand of offense. “I think he’s one of those players. He gives you a lot of flexibility.

“The way he and Philip have been for a number of years, I think they could go out there and practice in blindfolds and complete balls to one another. Philip understands his body language, his techniques and routes versus coverages, and they make the game look easy.”

“We’re conforming to this system,” said Rivers. “But in a lot of ways, it’s like (the coaches saying) ‘Hey, I know y’all have thrown a million reads, so just keep on doing it how you’ve been doing it.’ There’s been a nice give and take.”

Against opponents, Gates generally doesn’t give anything except a hard time. Ball security would appear to be a trait of the NFL’s elite tight ends, namely, Gates and Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten.

Astonishingly, Atlanta’s Gonzalez hasn’t fumbled the ball since 1999, losing just two of six over his 16-plus seasons and 1.549 catches. Dallas’ Witten, who entered the league the same year as Gates, has lost three of only five fumbles and none since 2010.

“When you work in the middle of the field, it’s second nature to know when guys are coming at you,” said Gates. “It’s like you have a clock going off in your mind.”